Women Move Against Boston State

After months of fruitless discussions between students and administrators, militant action taken at Boston State College earlier this week prompted the commitment by the school's administration to the rights of women on campus.

Twelve women ended their two-day occupation of the central communications center in the school's administration building Thursday after Kermit Morrissey, president of BSC, agreed to meet some and consider the rest of the group's five demands.

Morrissey granted amnesty to the dozen undergraduate women who had at noon Tuesday barricaded themselves inside the communications room, seized control of the main switchboard and pledged to remain until their demands were met.

On Thursday, Morrissey said that the demand that 50 per cent of all athletic fees be allocated to women's athletics would be given what he termed serious consideration.

On Wednesday, when 50 students had gathered outside his office to discuss the issues of the take-over, Morrissey obliged them. The college president spoke to four of the demands and the occupiers accepted his reply to these.

At that time Morrissey promised that a location for a women's center would be provided by next week. He also announced that a plan for the formation of an 11-member board--to include two members of the occupying group--which will examine the feasibility of obtaining federal funding for a proposed day care center.

That same day a group of BSC women faculty members met with Morrissey and reportedly reached an agreement on salary equalization. To this, the occupants--who demanded an end to salary discrepancies between male and female faculty members--said they supported whatever was satisfactory to the women faculty.

In addition, BSC's curriculum committee decided Wednesday to extend the deadline for course offerings for the Fall of 1973 to enable the submitting of descriptions for women's studies courses.

The single demand that had not been met by the administration to the satisfaction of the occupiers until Thursday--that of the allocation of athletic funding--stemmed from a $12.50 per semester athletic fee mandatory for each student enrolled in the college.

The women maintained that since members of their sex comprised 50 per cent of the total student body, women's athletics ought to receive one-half of the total money budgeted for athletics rather than the 12 per cent it now receives.